VP of Enrollment out!

[vu72]

Brian O'Rourke, Valpo's VP  of Enrollment has resigned after only 18 months on the job.  Padilla said that it wasn't a forced resignation but one has to wonder why a guy would move his family from California to Valpo if he wasn't planning for a little longer stay.  Stay tuned.  The search is on for a replacement which might be a little harder to find based on O'Rourke's experience.

[David81]

Brian O'Rourke, Valpo's VP  of Enrollment has resigned after only 18 months on the job.  Padilla said that it wasn't a forced resignation but one has to wonder why a guy would move his family from California to Valpo if he wasn't planning for a little longer stay.  Stay tuned.  The search is on for a replacement which might be a little harder to find based on O'Rourke's experience.

Yikes...personal and family reasons cited for the resignation. Sometimes that's true, other times....

Right now, being a VP for enrollment is one of the most high-pressure jobs in academe. And even more challenging at a school that just did major cuts to positions and programs.

I'll say it again: VU has a much stronger identity than many other more amorphous, private, regionally-oriented universities out there. And because it's not a huge school, it doesn't need thousands upon thousands of new students enrolling each year. If it can find a way to hone its niche and then promote it, it can thrive and not merely survive.

[vu84v2]

Brian O'Rourke, Valpo's VP  of Enrollment has resigned after only 18 months on the job.  Padilla said that it wasn't a forced resignation but one has to wonder why a guy would move his family from California to Valpo if he wasn't planning for a little longer stay.  Stay tuned.  The search is on for a replacement which might be a little harder to find based on O'Rourke's experience.

Yikes...personal and family reasons cited for the resignation. Sometimes that's true, other times....

Right now, being a VP for enrollment is one of the most high-pressure jobs in academe. And even more challenging at a school that just did major cuts to positions and programs.

I'll say it again: VU has a much stronger identity than many other more amorphous, private, regionally-oriented universities out there. And because it's not a huge school, it doesn't need thousands upon thousands of new students enrolling each year. If it can find a way to hone its niche and then promote it, it can thrive and not merely survive.

While I agree that Valpo has a strong identity, it needs enough students at a low enough discount rate to cover current and near future costs. Otherwise, Valpo has take other actions or decide not to fund planned initiatives.

I don't know what happened here, but research on executives and upper echelons would suggest the most likely scenario is that he was dismissed. The second most likely scenario is that he is in line for another job and Valpo found out (and thus asked him to resign). Regardless, finding a qualified replacement in the middle of an academic year will be very difficult...and will likely require a substantial premium in salary.

[crusader05]

It sounds like he is staying on through at least April to help train his successor.  I've heard both that it was forced and that he wants to get out of Higher Ed and move into  a different area of recruiting. Neither would surprise me but I lean toward the second just because it seems like a crappy time to work in higher ed over all and I've heard of several people feeling like there's a ceiling that makes them want to jump into the business world.

[David81]

Think about it: Generically speaking, VP for enrollment management has to be one of the worst jobs in higher ed right now. It's truly a zero-sum game, with winners and losers, and even some of the winners these days are only breathing a sigh of relief.

From my vantage point at law schools, the best admissions directors have been folks who truly believe in the school and are relentlessly effective at communicating its strengths to prospective applicants and admitted students. And it helps a ton if the school's dean is cut from that same cloth.

Carrying out that thinking to the full university level, it would seem that a passionate advocate, not a manager, is needed for a job like that.

[vu72]

If he wasn't forced out--seems unlikely given the short time at Valpo--then one would have to question O'Rourke's decision to take the job in the first place.  Let's see, move the family from California to Valpo and then see if we like it?  I wouldn't want someone with that volatile of decision making being part of my team. I wish the best for him and his family, particularly if the decision arose based on a major health issue.

[crusader05]

I will say that, as someone who have had friends relocate due to jobs: sometimes you don't know how you/your family will feel about a place til you are there.  It can be really hard if you move to a place and your spouse hates it or, outside of the job the area is not where you want to be. Sometimes family that you moved away from have health issues or other things that change your calculus. 

Staying til April seems like at the very least the parting was most likely a mutual decision and that  the current VP does not want to leave Valpo in a lurch by just leaving. 

[crusadermoe]

Darn.  I can't recall if his career was spent primarly and fully in higher education. If so, he would know the grass is not much greener anywhere else except Florida right now.  And its an odd time to take a higher ed job elsewhere.

Indeed enrollment is a tough job!  But starting a brand new career to work at his price point is no picnic either. We can pray that his personal and family issues resolve for him. 

Either way it's a pretty clear signal that the enrollment numbers for 2023-2024 were not trending upward.

[David81]

I didn't understand how the job is broader than just enrollment management: "VP for Enrollment, Marketing and Communications."

Given that there are also admissions directors at the respective schools, this sounds like more of a bird's eye level position, though I could be wrong.

I still think it would be great to have a senior person, maybe an already successful alum drawn from the NWI/Chicagoland area, who can complement the President and admissions director in selling the school to prospective students and other stakeholders.

[vu84v2]

I would argue that marketing and communications are an essential part of recruiting students...so the title seems reasonable.

A bigger part of new student recruitment and enrollment for private universities (other than Ivy League and other elite schools) is that recruitment needs to be "all hands on deck". This means that faculty need to be taking time to meet with prospective students and their families...and recruitment processes need to include that. Since faculty are not incentivized to do this (though I believe that they should do this, because it in their university's and ultimately their own best interests), this has limited many universities' abilities to overcome enrollment challenges.

[David81]

I would argue that marketing and communications are an essential part of recruiting students...so the title seems reasonable.

A bigger part of new student recruitment and enrollment for private universities (other than Ivy League and other elite schools) is that recruitment needs to be "all hands on deck". This means that faculty need to be taking time to meet with prospective students and their families...and recruitment processes need to include that. Since faculty are not incentivized to do this (though I believe that they should do this, because it in their university's and ultimately their own best interests), this has limited many universities' abilities to overcome enrollment challenges.

The "all hands on deck" approach works best when there is trust in, and affection for, the institution. That's harder to find in the wake of significant layoffs and buyouts, where, for example, a person pushed out may have been a surviving professor's best friend on the faculty. Those who remain may feel that it's disingenuous to "pitch" a school that they're not feeling good about right now.

In that sense, academe is no different than corporate America, government, or the rest of the non-profit sector: Low morale = low "citizenship" commitment. While I believe that VU's last buyout option was relatively generous compared to similar options at many other universities, I'm sure it's of little solace to remaining faculty members who have seen colleagues depart and programs pruned down or even closed.

In any event, if VU finds the right person for this position -- someone with the right skill sets and genuine buy-in with the overall institutional mission -- that individual can make a big difference in student recruitment and enrollment.

[vu72]

The Times article gives us a little more insight into the issues (just my interpretation!)

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/education/valparaiso-universitys-vp-of-enrollment-marketing-and-communications-resigns/article_112d0c04-6991-56d0-a32e-354030c70467.html

What got my attention was that nothing was said about family issues etc. What was said was that Padilla was looking for (in O'Rourke's replacement) "They must have experience in shoe-leather recruiting from the Midwest..."

This may be the issue here.  O'Rourke's background was from Southern California.  The Midwest, and the competitive nature of enrollments which accompanies it, just may not have been a goof fit.

[valpopal]

The Times article gives us a little more insight into the issues (just my interpretation!)

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/education/valparaiso-universitys-vp-of-enrollment-marketing-and-communications-resigns/article_112d0c04-6991-56d0-a32e-354030c70467.html

What got my attention was that nothing was said about family issues etc. What was said was that Padilla was looking for (in O'Rourke's replacement) "They must have experience in shoe-leather recruiting from the Midwest..."

This may be the issue here.  O'Rourke's background was from Southern California.  The Midwest, and the competitive nature of enrollments which accompanies it, just may not have been a goof fit.

What got my attention was the fact that this was a story in which nothing was added by Padilla or a university spokesperson to officially released messages and O'Rourke declined to comment, which left space for negative information about the university's recent troubles: "Valparaiso University's student population was 2,964 at the start of the fall 2022 semester, according to data available on the university's website. This was a slight increase over fall 2021, when the university had a student population of 2,939. But that number has been steadily dropping since fall 2015, when it stood at 4,544. Valparaiso's retention rate for first-year students returning in 2021 was 77.3%, according to university data. That's the lowest it's been since at least 1991, the earliest data the university provides. Additionally, Valpo has discontinued a number of degree programs as a way to cut costs, including its secondary-education major, theater major and minor, Chinese minor, French major, Greek and Roman studies major and minor, and its law school...." Finally, the article declares VU has a goal of raising tuition by 10% over the next five years as part of its income revenue plan. This is not a good piece for positive public relations.

[valpo95]

If it helps for perspective, Wheaton College (Illinois) is looking at a deficit due to enrollment issues too.

Wheaton is better off in terms of student admit stats (Wheaton admit rate 86% vs Valpo 93%, Wheaton yield rate 32% vs Valpo 10%), but still they enrolled around 500 instead of 600+ freshmen, so they are cutting:

https://thewheatonrecord.com/2022/11/17/college-to-reduce-faculty-staff-in-significant-budget-cuts/#:~:text=Wheaton%20College%20announced%20today%20a,staff%20and%20parents%20this%20afternoon.

Thanks for posting this - it shows that VU is facing challenges similar to many of its Midwestern peers.

What caught my eye from the article is that Wheaton is cutting in some of the very same places VU has made cuts:

Wheaton:  "The reduction accompanies departmental restructuring, including the transitioning of the Chinese, German and classical languages majors into minors, certificates, or concentrations starting next year. All students currently enrolled in these majors will be able to take the credits needed to complete them."

Valpo: Cuts to Theatre, Chinese minor, French minor, Greek and Roman Studies, Secondary Ed major. Currently enrolled students could finish their degrees.

[crusadermoe]

Ouch.  That is a shame to hear. 

I always admit when I am wrong.  So here goes.  I had been blowing the horn for 3-4 years about diluting our identity and Christian focus and theorizing that it was hurting enrollment.   

While that would be my hope for the school and it could have played a small role, I have to concede that the pandemic jarred the business model so badly that Valpo is simply taking the fallout that others face.  I think Bradley got hammered as well. Another mid-sized university. 

Now comes the endowment question across the board for all of higher ed.  The drastic market drop of 2022 won't hurt universities immediately because most use a rolling average over 3 years to decide their spending.  But it if the market continues on a sharp downward trend and goes "underwater,: all schools will have a big hole blown in their budget by academic 2024-2025.   

[crusader05]

The thing about Wheaton vs Valpo is that they have a very strong identity which means that they are going to generally have a more "interested" pool (students who do not want that are not going to "throw their hat in the ring" there like they would for a Valpo. So their yield should be higher. BUT they also are pulling from a different kind of shrinking pool as             interest in organized religion continues to drop and probably will end up with less wiggle room as their general incoming class is smaller. Now they could try the Concordia/Liberty model and prop up their on campus education with an expansive on-line college but that is not going to bear fruit the more people try to do it. (I heard this is why Valpo dropped out of the Grand Canyon Deal and decided to focus on a smaller segment of on-line programs that there was a need for in the area and that they felt able to do themselves).

One other thing on majors being dropped: If students don't want them they are gong to get dropped. I heard some of the minors that were discontinued at valpo had students in the single digits in them.  Some areas of study in the Liberal Arts will have value (it's always good to learn another language) but may not justify being supported by the infrastructure that is required of a major. I think one of the hard questions that needs to be asked is "Are we upholding the value of teaching liberal arts and their importance or are we upholding a specific structural way of teaching them and which is more important to us?"

[FWalum]

Now comes the endowment question across the board for all of higher ed.  The drastic market drop of 2022 won't hurt universities immediately because most use a rolling average over 3 years to decide their spending.  But it if the market continues on a sharp downward trend and goes "underwater,: all schools will have a big hole blown in their budget by academic 2024-2025.   

Absolutely correct, as someone who now works in the money side of higher ed, this will be a major issue if the markets don't rebound. While we don't have many endowments that are "underwater" we do have some endowments that are restricted because of donor market value stipulations from which we will not be able to make distributions. Most people just think we can use the money as we see fit, but I am finding out that it is much more complicated than most believe. Most universities are governed by their state's acceptance of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA), so if you want to know how the non-profits you give to are required to invest and use your money a quick overview of this Act will give you an idea of how endowments work.

[FWalum]

Now they could try the Concordia/Liberty model and prop up their on campus education with an expansive on-line college but that is not going to bear fruit the more people try to do it. (I heard this is why Valpo dropped out of the Grand Canyon Deal and decided to focus on a smaller segment of on-line programs that there was a need for in the area and that they felt able to do themselves).

This model was the final nail in the coffin for Concordia Portland. HotChalk Sues Concordia Portland There are major shake ups happening in the Concordia University System.

Any insight on the Belmont model that has actually increased their enrollment?

[crusader05]

I haven't heard much about Belmont but I have heard that the Concordias are struggling pretty bad right now as well as some other smaller Lutheran schools. I have also heard that Butler has been struggling as enrollment has declined there as well as an enrollment bump they received from basketball is long gone(there are also grumbles about jumping up another conference was a bad budgetary decision).

[crusadermoe]

Bradley was hurting not long ago. Not sure of Drake. That pretty well rounds out our closest peers in terms of size and structure. The Lutheran schools, Luther and St. Olaf etc, aren't really structured like Valpo.

The Concordias sound like a different animal that didn't have a good historic business model anyway.

[78crusader]

I attended a gathering over Homecoming weekend in which President Padilla offered a few comments and answered several questions.

He stated that Butler had a good-sized freshman class this year. He acknowledged the enrollment headwinds that VU and its peer institutions face. He noted there are more Catholics on campus than Lutherans (which I think has been the case for at least 15 years and probably longer than that). During the enrollment discussion he stated "things will look much different" at VU in the future - more traditionally underrepresented students, from NW Indiana and Chicago. I don't recall the specific words he used, but that was my takeaway from his comments.

This strategy is probably necessary but it likely means that from here on out VU will be Lutheran in name only. I probably have this wrong, but I thought someone mentioned that Lutherans now make up 7% of the student body.

I realize that the days of 50% Lutherans (as it was when I enrolled in 1974) are gone for good,
but I disagree with the notion that we should be satisfied with a handful of Lutheran kids in each freshman class. A couple years ago FWalum pointed out that the Lutheran high school in Ft. Wayne was sending zero kids to VU. To borrow a phrase from my law practice, this likely does not happen in the absence of deliberate indifference by the administration.

David81 makes this point more eloquently than I ever could, but VU should take full advantage of its strong academics and Christian identity (with a recognizable dose of Lutheran heritage) in this tough enrollment environment. If we become just another university without any real identity other than being progressive (the Crusader name change is strong evidence this progressive/woke movement has already taken hold) we won't survive.

There is a strong undercurrent of resistance/resentment from many parents that too many private colleges today are simply indoctrination centers and not worth the cost. Community colleges are becoming a real option for many kids instead of a last resort. I hope President Padilla is sensitive to these trends.

Last comment -

The local paper has been engaged in a "let's get VU" campaign for several years, taking every opportunity to dunk on the university. Many of the articles, including the latest installment - thinly disguised as a report on the Enrollment VP's exit - from the NWI Times strongly suggest, or at least imply, that VU is on shaky financial ground and taking on water. Why VU does not try to combat this with press releases pointing out the many positive things going on at our school - including the recently-completed $302M campaign - is beyond me. Don't kid yourselves, these negative media reports are quite harmful.

I wonder how VU can bill itself as "The Region's University" when the local paper takes every possible opportunity possible to paint VU in a bad light. How will the effort to recruit more kids from NW Indiana/Chicagoland play out with all these hostile media reports swirling around?

Paul

[crusadermoe]

For sake of curiosity I did a quick google of "bradley university budget" and found a good October 2022 article.

In a nutshell they are budgeting a $3M deficit to make timely investments and feel able to do so because they are in a strong cash position. They ended last year with a $5.8M excess due to pandemic and a retirement adjustment.

[valpo95]

This strategy is probably necessary but it likely means that from here on out VU will be Lutheran in name only. I probably have this wrong, but I thought someone mentioned that Lutherans now make up 7% of the student body.

I realize that the days of 50% Lutherans (as it was when I enrolled in 1974) are gone for good,
but I disagree with the notion that we should be satisfied with a handful of Lutheran kids in each freshman class. A couple years ago FWalum pointed out that the Lutheran high school in Ft. Wayne was sending zero kids to VU. To borrow a phrase from my law practice, this likely does not happen in the absence of deliberate indifference by the administration.

78, you are right. Of the new undergraduate students entering in the fall of 2022, 55 indicated they were Lutheran, which is about 7.5% of the total new undergraduate students.

BTW, 10% of new undergrads identified as Roman Catholic. Just over 54% left the response blank, unknown or preferred not to answer.

When you consider VU's traditional ties to the Fort Wayne area, to have no students from that Lutheran High School goes beyond indifference in my opinion.

[vu72]

Of the total 2022 fall enrollment number of 2964, 340 identified as Lutheran, or 11.5%.  Romans made up 16%.  I have tried diligently to ask enrollment folks if there remains an effort to attract Lutheran students to Valpo.  The answer is always "yes" but when asked further whether or not it made sense for one enrollment rep to focus exclusively on Lutheran High Schools, the answer remains a "no".

Brian Beckstrom was brought on in January, 2022 as Asst. VP for Mission, Church and Ministry.  His roll is described in part as "In his role as assistant vice president for mission, church and ministry, Beckstrom will be responsible for promoting, supporting and advancing the University's Lutheran mission, both internally and externally, including fostering ongoing relationships with various Lutheran denominations and other entities.

[crusadermoe]

In fair comment, I think the context would say Brian is a more philosophical role in church body dialog rather than any boots on the ground. 

The enrollment department's response speaks volumes about priority and focus. And of course it speaks to the overall mission alignment of the university departments' focus toward Lutheranism (not) that Heckler instilled.